


piloting

by raven_bird



Series: Femslash February 2016 [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Flying, Thoughts about Rey's life and the difference from Jakku, bonding in space, just general cuteness idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 08:04:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6071476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raven_bird/pseuds/raven_bird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She'd be up amongst the stars in only minutes now, a thought that made her entire body hum with excitement. Mingled in with this was another emotion, something indefinable that seemed to manifest itself in her every time she caught sight of Jess's face, flooded with emotion and happiness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	piloting

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Femslash February!!

The Resistance base was nothing like Rey had ever encountered.

 

Back on Jakku, the amount of noise in her life was minimal. The accompaniment to Rey's life was not the conversation of friends and acquaintances, but the echoing footsteps that her feet left in an abandoned ship. She was lulled to sleep by the sound of wind battering sand up against her walls, a soothing kind of pattering.

 

She missed it.

 

On Jakku, the only place where there was a lot of noise was by the conglomeration of trading posts. To Rey, it had always been something of a wonder. The way that people at the market would call out to one another, their voices rising and falling and mingling with the noises from machinery, and the animals tied to nearby posts. Through the years, she had become used to it, but she had never imagined that there could be anything busier than that marketplace.

 

The resistance put it to shame.

 

It seemed there was no escape from noises. Every hall was filled with people milling about, both people in uniform and in casual clothing, chatting about meals and friends and missions. Rey had to stop herself from staring, sometimes, at the easy way that everyone interacted. The casual touches and light-hearted laughs were foreign to her, a kind of intimacy that hadn't been prominent in her old market.

 

It wasn't that she was shy. Growing up on Jakku had taught her exactly how to interact with traders, how to angle a conversation so that she could explain exactly what she wanted and offer a trade. Rey had no problem with starting conversations, and she knew how to stand up and defend herself if those conversations started going sideways.

 

That was different, though. Bargaining came easily to her. Making friends was different, and if she was being honest... the idea of approaching some of the pilots and workers who milled around was a little daunting.

 

So she stuck with Finn, who stuck with Poe, who seemed utterly at home at the base. Poe clearly had no qualms about talking to anyone he encountered, and Rey often found herself watching with the slightest bit of envy as he joked and talked with anyone he happened to know.

 

Little by little, Rey found herself being introduced to the same people, and after a while it wasn't so difficult. She managed to pick up on and adapt to the patterns that conversations seemed to follow, and before long she was comfortable on her own. Poe seemed to notice this, and he would ruffle her hair affectionately.

 

Affection. Another thing she wasn't accustomed to.

 

Even with her newfound social skills, Rey found the noise of the base to be unbearable at times. The cafeteria was better than anything she ever had dreamed -- she still couldn't get over the concept of _free food_ \-- but at times the voices grated in her ears and gave her a headache, and she had no choice but to excuse herself and head back to the room she had been assigned.

 

She hadn't yet managed to decorate her room, the way she had seen others do. Poe had old pieces of machinery -- bits of earlier ships he had flown when he was younger, he told her. Finn had little trinkets that he had picked up around the resistance, and when he wasn't wearing Poe's coat, it was thrown over a chair nearby.

 

Rey's room, in contrast, seemed nearly sterile. She hadn't had a chance to bring all her comforts from home when she had left, and she missed her old fighter helmet, the doll she had created, and the dried flowers on her table.

 

The absence of these items ached, sometimes. Especially when she could hear the loud noises echoing through the halls, from somewhere else in the base, and she searched the room for some sort of reminder of the life she had led before and came up with nothing.

 

At these times, the sheer unfamiliarity of the base struck her so much that it took everything in her not to bury her face in her pillow and attempt to block out everything around her.

 

Instead, she walked.

 

She left her room and followed the halls absently until she came to some exit, and when she made it outside, the sight of the stars calmed her.

 

That, at least, was the same as Jakku.

 

The ground was cold beneath her feet, and she wished for the shoes that she had left behind. On Jakku, the sun-warmed sand had been comfortable to walk on for long after the sun had gone down -- another thing she missed.

 

Still, being outside was a welcome distraction. The conversations and laughter that seemed to always be present were finally non-existent, and the silence settled down on her, a welcome change. The familiarity of this was unimaginably comforting: to see the stars, to breathe the air, to be free from the glaring lights that lit the halls of the base.

 

The paved, industrial buildings petered out after a while, and she came to an open plain, with long grasses blowing in the dim starlight. She only caught glimpses of movement, when wind swept over the land and the grass rippled in response, or when an animal darted through the land.

 

Rey was staring at the stars again, wishing that she could travel closer to them, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Resisting the impulse to jump and defend herself, Rey turned to look at her assailant.

 

The girl's hair was loose, strands flying out in the wind, and she tucked them back with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, did I startle you?"

 

Rey looked at her. "No. Jessika, right?"

 

"Jess." Her mouth curved into a smile, her teeth flashing in the dark. "I was just wondering whether you were okay. Wouldn't want you to get lost, out in the darkness."

 

"I'm good." Rey's eyes flew to the helmet tucked under Jess's arm. "You're a pilot."

 

"I am."

 

Rey met her eyes, thinking of the stars that had moments ago seemed so distant. "Can you take me flying?"

 

There was no mistaking the surprised delight that flashed across Jess's face. "Follow me."

 

She led the way back towards the base, but took a left before they reached the sleeping quarters, heading instead towards the hangars where the X-Wing fighters were kept. Jess nodded familiarly at a couple of the other pilots straggling around the buildings, and Rey did her best to look as though she belonged with Jess.

 

As if she had read Rey's mind, Jess reached out and squeezed Rey's hand, quickly, before releasing it and pointing to a fighter by the far door.

 

"That one's mine," she told Rey, "But there's not room for two in an X-Wing. I'll talk to someone, see if I can arrange borrowing a different starship for tonight."

 

"Thank you," Rey said, trying to pour all her gratitude into the words. Subconsciously, she flexed her fingers, thinking of Jess's hand around hers. It had been nice.

 

Jess smiled. "First, though, let's get you a helmet. You can take this one."

 

She held the helmet out to Rey, who looked at it with incredulity. "But... it's yours."

 

"Well, I can't have you going up there without a little bit of safety." Jess, instead of waiting for Rey to take it, carefully slid the helmet over Rey's head. Rey felt herself blush.

 

"Thank you." She said, for the second time, a little bit softer. Jess paused, looking at Rey as though she wanted to do something, but eventually seemed to shake herself and nodded quickly.

 

"I'll go get us a ship."

 

It didn't take long at all for Jess to find a ship that would fit the two of them, and once they were both behind the controls, Jess grinned at Rey. "You ready?"

 

"Of course," Rey responded, feeling her heart thunder with excitement. She'd be up amongst the stars in only minutes now, a thought that made her entire body hum with excitement. Mingled in with this was another emotion, something indefinable that seemed to manifest itself in her every time she caught sight of Jess's face, flooded with emotion and happiness.

 

Jess obviously was an expert with this craft as well, and Rey watched her hands fly over the panels, flipping switches and buttons and deftly maneuvering the starship out of the hangar, until it was under the open sky and the stars were visible through the glass. Rey craned her neck to get a better look at them, but was distracted when Jess reached out and placed a hand on her arm, to get her attention.

 

“Do you want to fly?” She asked. “I hear you’re not such a bad pilot yourself.”

 

Rey took a second to examine the controls, which, under closer inspection, weren’t so different from the Falcon’s. Turning to Jess, she exclaimed, “You’d let me?”

 

“Of course,” Jess told her, as simple as that, as if it wasn’t even a question. She sat back in seat, watching Rey. “Go on.”

 

Rey ran her hand along the dash, inhaling deeply and allowing herself to get comfortable with the starship. After a couple seconds, she nodded to herself and began preparations, setting everything into motion and continuing to taxi the aircraft out into open space. When everything was ready, she exchanged a happy glance with Jess, and they took off.

 

The controls, when in motion, did feel different from the other ships that Rey had flown, but she found herself getting accustomed to them easily. They picked up speed, breaking through the atmosphere, and before long they were surrounded by the dark expanse of space. Beside her, Jess sighed, a small little noise of contentment. Rey’s heart felt lighter at the sound, and glanced over at Jess, who had her forearms resting on the dash, her eyes fixed on the stars ahead of them.

 

“Do you want me to slow it down?” Rey asked. The ship was still moving steadily forward through space, furthering the distance from the resistance base with every second.

 

“Please.”

 

Rey cut back on the speed, until the ship seemed to be barely moving. It stopped, as if suspended, in space. Rey, too, sat back and let herself enjoy the view. It was just as comforting as she had expected it to be, and she felt completely indebted to Jess for the entire experience.

 

When she turned to Jess, meaning to tell her this, she found that Jess was already looking at her.

 

Jess said, “Thank you.”

 

Taken aback at her words, Rey tilted her head. “Why?”

 

Jess shrugged. “I never get to fly up here for pleasure anymore. I’d almost forgotten how nice it is. So, thank you.”

 

Rey, swallowing her own thanks, simply smiled. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to find a way to do this more often.”

 

Jess’s smile found its way into her words when she agreed.

 

They stayed up far longer than either of them had anticipated, and by the time they had turned themselves around and made it back to the base, it seemed that nearly everyone had retired to their beds. Rey and Jess left the starship where they had taken it from, and left the hangers, walking back together towards their sleeping quarters. Drunk on happiness, her new helmet under her arm, Rey found herself bumping shoulders with Jess more often than not, just to see Jess look at her with an inexplicable fondness.

 

When they made it to where the two of them would have to go separate ways, Rey nodded at her, and saw that Jess had the same uncertain expression that she had worn earlier that night. It looked as though she was internally debating whether or not she wanted to do something.

 

And then, her expression cleared, and was replaced by a subtle determination.

 

“Goodnight,” Jess told her, and before Rey quite realized what was happening, she stepped forward and pressed a kiss to Rey’s cheek, a small gesture that resulted on Rey’s blood rushing to her face. Unable to do anything but smile, Rey watched as Jess stepped back. After catching Rey’s dazed expression, Jess winked and disappeared amongst the halls.

 

Rey walked back to her own room, unable to help the smile that seemed stuck on her face. She didn’t even notice the laughter and booming conversations that still echoed through the halls. And, when she made it back to her room, she set her new helmet on her table and fell asleep to the sight of it. Her room, once so sterile, now had traces of life in it – and not just that. It had traces of Jessika Pava, and that was more than anything Rey could have hoped for.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love any feedback!! Please leave a comment or kudos if you enjoyed.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at [lavenderjehan](http://lavenderjehan.tumblr.com).
> 
> Also, everything that I've done for femslash february can be found on my tumblr [here](http://lavenderjehan.tumblr.com/tagged/femslash-february).


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